@brianch.bsky.social
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reposted by
Denis Agar (he/him)
6 days ago
this is an excellent history of transit in BC if you haven't read it!
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Why hasn't transit in BC kept up with growth?
Transit in BC hasn't kept up with growth, because every time the province faces a deficit, they go after transit.
https://bettercolumbia.ca/2026/04/27/transit-has-not-kept-up-with-growth/
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reposted by
A. Zivarts
6 days ago
I'm really coming to agree with the argument
@denisagar.bsky.social
makes here. frequent transit that sevces more areas is far more important than free transit.
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Fisticuffs: The argument AGAINST fare-free transit
If a terrible bus becomes free, will it truly free you?
https://www.planetizen.com/features/137807-fisticuffs-argument-against-fare-free-transit
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
5 days ago
Ride with us on the #5 Willows from Fisherman’s Wharf to Willows Beach. We’ll talk transit and then enjoy the live music at 2pm. Bring a chair or blanket for the park.
actionnetwork.org/events/ride-...
#yyj
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Ride the 5 on July 5th
Ride with us on the #5 Willows from Fisherman’s Wharf to Willows Beach. We’ll talk transit and then enjoy the live music at 2pm. Bring a chair or blanket for the park. You can see the exact route and...
https://actionnetwork.org/events/ride-the-5-on-july-5th/
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reposted by
Ben ✨
9 days ago
Don't have to look far for examples of HOV lanes being bad for transit. TransLink's 555, a route with 99% HOV lanes, has peak direction runtimes padded to **double** what offpeak conditions require. Very few other routes have to deal with that level of variance. 99% transit priority btw.
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reposted by
Oh The Urbanity!
11 days ago
Transit construction costs are the “price of living in a democracy today, as opposed to an autocracy”? Maybe versus the 1960s (poetically). But we were even building much more cheaply in 2007! Are France, Spain, and Korea (lower cost countries today) dictatorships?
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reposted by
Stephen Jacob Smith
11 days ago
I wrote this article 12 years ago. Nothing has changed. Horodniceanu and Prendergast are gone, but new transit leaders across the US and Canada are still playing dumb (or actually are??) about this. It’s very depressing if you care about transit!
nextcity.org/urbanist-new...
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reposted by
Ben ✨
11 days ago
For the Swartz Bay connection, the 70 is already about as good as it can be short of the bus actually driving onto the ferry. The problem is with onward connections. A 70 going to the 6AM ferry existing doesn't mean anything if your local Core route doesn't start running for another 1-2 hours.
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
11 days ago
Better buses on both sides of the ferry can help us increase foot passengers and move more people.
#yyj
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Drive-on or walk-on: choose your ferry fighter | This is Vancouver Island | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen
How you get on and off the ferry can make a big difference in your experience. This week, we'll hear from a BC Ferries terminal attendant on what goes into guiding your car onto each vessel, as well as what Swartz Bay foot passengers think could make the walk-on experience better.
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/1417-this-is-vancouver-island/episode/16221574-drive-on-or-walk-on-choose-your-ferry-fighter
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reposted by
Denis Agar (he/him)
13 days ago
Vancouver SHOULD dream big -10,000 new units of subsidized housing -SkyTrain to UBC -Gondola to SFU -100% more bus service (as in TransLink's plan) -An intercity network that gets you anywhere in the province, car-free
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reposted by
Nathan Lauster
16 days ago
Congrats to all of the people who have worked so hard to brand Vancouver as "towers full of vacant luxury condominiums" I guess. Anyway, here's the map from 2025's Empty Homes Tax report. Once again, very little empty, with the mansion hoods in the SW leading the pack.
vancouver.ca/files/cov/20...
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
16 days ago
There has been significant growth in the Greater Victoria region over the past decade and with population growth and transit trips continuing to increase, BC Transit is planning ahead for the additional infrastructure needed to maintain and expand our fleet and transit service.
#yyj
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Planning for a future Saanich Transit Centre
YouTube video by BC Transit
https://youtu.be/-fAbj_iRCS4
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
19 days ago
Susan's speech at our Race the Bus event 🚌
#yyj
#racethebus
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reposted by
Colleen
19 days ago
Much to say about this article but I'll start with the claims that kids don't or can't live in "skyscrapers" (the building under discussion is 15 storeys) when the census data show that such neighbourhoods have way more kids than nearby low-rise. (left: land use, right: kids/km^2)
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reposted by
Oh The Urbanity!
20 days ago
The transit cost problem feels so hard to advocate for. It’s easy to say “fund transit more”. Much harder: “so, Italy and Korea and others build transit more cheaply. Yes, that much cheaper. It’s because of consultants and risk management and standardization and overbuilt stations…”
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reposted by
Oak Bay for All
21 days ago
If you walk, bike, or roll through Oak Bay, please help us urge our council to prioritize safe streets for all.
www.oakbayforall.ca/blog/safe-st...
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Safe Streets for All! — Oak Bay for All
Let’s keep the momentum going on safe streets for All Ages and Abilities transit in Oak Bay! Send your message to the Mayor and Council today!
https://www.oakbayforall.ca/blog/safe-streets-for-all
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
20 days ago
On Friday, we proved that even buses running ahead of schedule are still too slow. BC Transit, the City of Victoria, and the District of Colwood are the institutions that need to step up. Together, we will keep push for a better, safer, more reliable city.
#yyj
#racethebus
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If you want a microcosm of why mode share is what it is in
#yyj
and why transit needs help to be a more competitive option, look no further:
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20 days ago
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
21 days ago
Interview on
@cfax1070.bsky.social
while we raced.
www.iheart.com/podcast/1300...
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Joggers beat the 95 RapidBus to City Hall, exposing transit delays - Josh & Jade: Soundbites | iHeart
<p>Transit riders often feel like the 95 RapidBus is not as rapid as it could be. A group of advocates put that to the test on a Friday afternoon.</p> <p>Josh reported live from the field as <a h...
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1300-josh-jade-soundbites-307786015/episode/joggers-beat-the-95-rapidbus-to-336680508/
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Not just dedicated lanes, but also for buses to not get stuck at red lights and behind turning cars! We will not be able to achieve a 20% speed increase on Douglas without addressing these challenges.
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20 days ago
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reposted by
Denis Agar (he/him)
23 days ago
Yes, the one critique about Texan housing is that the homes are too small
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reposted by
Oh The Urbanity!
24 days ago
This person downplays European comparisons for high-speed rail in Canada by saying that “Europe built their railways long ago … it’s like they’ve always been there”. Fun fact: the largest high-speed rail network in Europe is in Spain. They opened their first line in... 1992.
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
25 days ago
vicnews.com/2026/06/09/b...
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Better Transit YYJ pits grandmothers on bikes against Victoria’s rapid bus - Victoria News
Better Transit wants to see Douglas as a corridor primarily designed for pedestrians and transit
https://vicnews.com/2026/06/09/better-transit-yyj-pits-grandmothers-on-bikes-against-victorias-rapid-bus/
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reposted by
Peter Waldkirch 華彼德
25 days ago
So asking rents are at about mid-2022 levels. And still far above 2019. And know what people said about Vancouver's housing market then? "Housing crisis." The fact that rents are down a bit from their peak, but still at crisis levels, means govt needs to do more, not pat themselves on the back.
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reposted by
Denis Agar (he/him)
about 1 month ago
When people are asked if they want their taxes to go up to pay for better transit, they usually say yes
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reposted by
Ben ✨
about 1 month ago
We need transit riders in particular for responses for the Interurban project. This is one of the worst spots for transit delay in the entire region, and Transit has **already** had to cut service multiple times due to buses being stuck in traffic, **solely** due to this intersection.
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reposted by
Movement: Metro Vancouver Transit Riders
about 1 month ago
Good news! Today, Vancouver City Council passed a motion signaling its support for a low-income transit pass across Metro Vancouver. We will continue campaigning on this issue throughout June, culminating in a rally on July 1 at noon at Metrotown Station.
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reposted by
Jens von Bergmann
about 1 month ago
Details on how moving chains interact with bedrooms will depend on housing stock and household composition. Here is the Metro Vancouver breakdown, lots of opportunity for households in 3+ bedrooms to split up or downsize into 1 or 2 bedroom homes.
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reposted by
Madeleine Bonsma-Fisher, PhD
about 1 month ago
I find this shocking. 60% of Canadians say they feel forced to own a car to access their daily needs! There is HUGE pent-up demand for better transportation options. Paraphrasing
@lorinah.bsky.social
: people are just not all that jazzed about spending their days in a car.
survey.mobilizingjustice.ca
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reposted by
Jedwin Mok
about 1 month ago
Toronto’s transit cost disease has hit… metal fences. Just a reminder that $2M CAD is about the cost of half height PSGs for one platform in Hong Kong. Then we use NYC to justify our wild cost estimates for actual screen doors. The incuriosity and Anglo echo-chamber here is astounding.
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
about 1 month ago
Can you outrun the 95 “Rapid” bus? On June 12 at 4:45pm, we are racing the bus from the Legislature to City Hall to highlight how Douglas St congestion slows transit to a crawl. Sign up to run, or be a cheerleader:
actionnetwork.org/forms/volunt...
#yyj
#racethebus
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reposted by
Jonathan English
about 1 month ago
Paris’ RER is a perfect example of solving phone call problems. Instead of duplicating infrastructure because different agencies controlled it, Paris made sharing work. It saved a fortune and created Europe’s most impressive regional rail network.
open.substack.com/pub/infrasto...
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Paris' RER Revolution
A city that solved its phone call problems the right way
https://open.substack.com/pub/infrastory/p/paris-rer-revolution?r=7nbllr&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
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reposted by
Stephen Jacob Smith
about 1 month ago
After aggressive land use reforms aimed at increasing supply, 20% of New Zealand townhouses resales are now at a loss
www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...
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Almost 20% of townhouses selling for a loss
Cotality says there are now 242,000 townhouses across the country, 48,000 more than eight years ago.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/595842/almost-20-percent-of-townhouses-selling-for-a-loss
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reposted by
Ruofan 🚎
about 1 month ago
I spoke to Vancouver council tonight in opposition to this motion. ABC can't claim that allowing methane in homes is a pro-housing measure, then immediately move to savage multiplexes to cater to quell specious aesthetic concerns. Part of my remarks:
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reposted by
Jens von Bergmann
about 1 month ago
This is great. We need more human story explanations like this. Just pointing at data and research fails to reach a lot of people.
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reposted by
Leo Spalteholz
about 1 month ago
Yes please. But: local land use needs to be permissive enough to ramp up building. If municipalities are restrictive a cut in fees doesn’t get passed on. We need both a culture of saying yes to housing and lower fees
www.biv.com/news/real-es...
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PM aiming for ‘structural change’ to improve housing affordability in B.C.
Discussions with B.C. ongoing after recent infrastructure deal with Ontario, Carney says in Vancouver
https://www.biv.com/news/real-estate/pm-aiming-for-structural-change-to-improve-housing-affordability-in-bc-12306846
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reposted by
Damien Moule
about 1 month ago
Hahahahahaha. We compared to the transit agency with the worst costs on the planet and found that our numbers were in the same ballpark so it's ok.
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reposted by
Denis Agar (he/him)
about 1 month ago
Capital cost escalation is an existential problem in the transit industry right now and we don't have enough engineers screaming from the rooftops about it. Where are we headed if we keep swallowing these cost increases unquestioningly? Is this happening with highway infrastructure too?
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Unfortunately this applies to more than
#yyj
. Stay tuned for more on how we can fix this funding model!
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about 2 months ago
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
about 2 months ago
Caleb Crookes, vice-president of transit advocacy group Better Transit YYJ, said his organization welcomes the change. “It would have been excellent had that been slightly higher on the to-do list, but overall, I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’re all excited for this.”
#yyj
#transit
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reposted by
Ben ✨
about 2 months ago
www.northerndevelopment.bc.ca/wp-content/u...
The existing service has a total budget of <$3m a year -- and only funded for another year. We're willing to blow a multi-billion dollar hole in our budget to axe the carbon tax, but not willing to spend the chump change to improve intercity transit.
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reposted by
Ben ✨
about 2 months ago
bettercolumbia.ca/2026/04/27/t...
Our transit funding model is broken. Either funding party can unilaterally deny transit expansion. And of course, the Province decided to actively veto every BCT expansion requested this year, including for exact election promises like Sea to Sky.
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
about 2 months ago
This is one of the biggest transit delay spots in the network, so make your voice heard and tell Saanich staff you want no delay for buses!
hello.saanich.ca/.../interurb...
#yyj
#BCTransit
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reposted by
Denis Agar (he/him)
about 2 months ago
Of all the North American cities studied, Vancouver's buses have the second highest variation in travel time throughout the day. This should set off alarm bells that we have a lot of work to do when it comes to making buses reliable.
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reposted by
Better Transit YYJ
about 2 months ago
Difficulty in getting airport service shows region needs a new funding model
bettertransityyj.ca/2026/05/12/d...
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DIFFICULTY IN GETTING AIRPORT SERVICE SHOWS REGION NEEDS NEW MODEL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Victoria, BC, May 12 At the upcoming Victoria Regional Transit Commission (VRTC) meeting this Tuesday, May 12th, commissioners voted to approve direct airport service to Vict…
https://bettertransityyj.ca/2026/05/12/difficulty-in-getting-airport-service-shows-region-needs-new-model/
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reposted by
Ben ✨
about 2 months ago
Good that this targets a very valid pain point of poor service span to YYJ without adversely screwing existing transit users. We need all levels of government to step up and properly invest in transit before transit staff is once again forced to consider robbing Peter to pay Paul.
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reposted by
Denis Agar (he/him)
about 2 months ago
“The best-used euro is not to reduce the price but to increase the offer,” says Kehrer. “Because what’s the use of a cheap ticket if I still can’t travel when I want to?”
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Vienna’s public transport is the envy of the world – so why can’t it ditch cars?
Austrian capital mulls expanding tram network and park-and-ride car parks in effort to reduce private vehicle use
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/06/vienna-public-transport-tram-network-ditch-cars
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reposted by
Ruofan 🚎
2 months ago
I think Vancouver's become too reliant on using unrelated roadwork as an opportunity to build bike lanes. I argue that it doesn't save that much money, does little to quell local opposition, and often fails to create network effects.
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reposted by
Owen
2 months ago
If I were the Premiere of a province with a horrific housing shortage & falling lumber demand, I would simply legalize 18-storey mass timber apartments in the urban core of major cities.
www.cbc.ca/news/cana...
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reposted by
Marco Chitti
2 months ago
It's happening. On Friday, 5/15, we are soft-launching our Transit Priority Atlas 1.0 website. Come join us in person at 370 Jay Street to explore this knowledge-sharing tool and get lost in circulation planning layouts and intersection management strategies for better on-street transit.
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reposted by
Alfred Twu
2 months ago
Of all the ways to make a building more interesting - ornament, different materials, artwork - articulation has got to be the worst. Each of the extra corners from the building shifting in and out is a potential leak, and the yellow planes are extra walls that reduce energy efficiency.
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